Passing the buck on Internet shopping taxes? Sometimes, the Supreme Court’s ultimate power to define what the Constitution means seems just too daunting for the Justices. That was the sentiment that swept across the bench Tuesday, as the Court confronted – after years of refusing to do so – the question of whether to allow states broad new freedom to tax shopping that consumers do via the Internet. Maybe this should be left to Congress, Justice after Justice suggested. The Constitution, since 1992, has been interpreted by the Court to mean that a state simply…read more

This I.R.S. FAIL Couldn’t Have Come At A Worse Time For Americans Taxes have been a sore subject for Americans everywhere over the course of our history, with our country only existing in the capacity that it does thanks to our shared hatred of the abhorrent practice. Taxation is theft, plain and simple, and there is no shortage of powerful opinions on the subject to go around. Happy #TaxDay! #Taxationistheft pic.twitter.com/7Ozpu8SPiP — Steven Crowder (@scrowder) April 17, 2018 On this festive day, I’d just like to remind you that taxation is theft. — Kassy Dillon…read more

Mattis Reaffirms U.S. Albanian Defense Relationship Defense Secretary James N. Mattis welcomed Albanian Defense Minister Olta Xhacka to the Pentagon, to reaffirm the strong defense relationship between the United States and Albania. Full Storyread more

Bureau Chief Details National Guard’s Contributions in Senate Hearing The chief of the National Guard Bureau said on Capitol Hill that in support of the National Defense Strategy, the National Guard’s focus remains on the war fight, defending and securing the homeland, and building enduring partnerships. Full Storyread more

Starbucks Closing EIGHT THOUSAND Stores In Wake of Racism Boycott I remember hearing once in a corporate management trainee seminar of some sort, that Americans are eight times more likely to complain about a restaurant than they are willing to recommend a good one to a friend. And while this concept would surely make some hippies cringe, the hyper-critical emphasis that we put on those providing us goods and services is merely just a built-in bit of capitalist quality control: Make your product to our collective standards of quality and price, and we’ll hand you…read more

U.S. v. Microsoft case comes to a quiet end The Supreme Court on Tuesday ended a potentially major data privacy case after both sides agreed that a new law from Congress made their argument moot. In a brief per-curium, or unsigned, order, the Court dismissed United States v. Microsoft. The dispute over data stored at a Microsoft facility in Ireland sought by the federal government in a criminal investigation had been closely followed in the Court’s current term, which started in October. Back in 2013, federal investigators successfully got warrants from a court to obtain…read more

Iran Using Yemen as ‘Test Bed’ for Malign Activities, DoD Official Says Iran is exploiting the situation in Yemen, arming opponents of the internationally recognized government and using the country as a "test bed" for malign activities, a top Defense Department official told lawmakers in Washington. Full Storyread more

UNBELIEVABLE! Prez Makes History After Six Decades of Animosity We talk a lot about how unorthodox Donald Trump is as a choice for President, but it’s important to remind ourselves of this as he continues to shatter the mold of the Commander in Chief. Of course, we hired him precisely for this reason. He’s not a politician, and that’s incredibly important. He’s a wrecking ball for the establishment way of operating, as we can tell by the massive, bi-partisan effort to undermine him. He’s a threat to business as usual, and that makes him the perfect citizen President. And all…read more

Meghan McCain Gets In Stormy Daniels’ Face On LIVE TV! The saga surrounding Stormy Daniels has gone on far too long for many Americans’ liking, and women such as Meghan McCain aren’t going to put up with it anymore. Daniels, an adult film star and exotic dancer on the inevitable downswing of her career, recently began publicizing an affair that she claims to have had with Donald Trump. Daniels alleges that Trump forced her to sign a non-disclosure agreement regarding the rendezvous, but that the future President never signed his copy, thus allowing her to…read more

Meghan McCain Gets In Stormy Daniels’ Face On LIVE TV! The saga surrounding Stormy Daniels has gone on far too long for many Americans’ liking, and women such as Meghan McCain aren’t going to put up with it anymore. Daniels, an adult film star and exotic dancer on the inevitable downswing of her career, recently began publicizing an affair that she claims to have had with Donald Trump. Daniels alleges that Trump forced her to sign a non-disclosure agreement regarding the rendezvous, but that the future President never signed his copy, thus allowing her to…read more

Face of Defense: Guard Soldier Earns ‘Mrs. Texas Galaxy’ Title It what she calls the “blink-and-you'll-miss-it” town of Premont, Texas, Army National Guard Staff Sgt. San Juanita Escobar took the first steps that would change her life and the lives of hundreds of young women in Texas and around the world. Full Storyread more

Guard Bureau Chief: 965 Guard Troops Deployed To U.S.-Mexico Border The chief of the National Guard Bureau told a Senate panel that there are 965 National Guard troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border. Full Storyread more

Guard Bureau Chief: 965 Guard Troops Deployed To U.S.-Mexico Border The chief of the National Guard Bureau told a Senate panel that there are 965 National Guard troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border. Full Storyread more

Air Force Squadron Strengthens International Bonds The 387th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron has increased joint security operations through host nation cooperation in Kuwait, where a large-scale, temporary cargo facility is under construction. Full Storyread more

Air Force Squadron Strengthens International Bonds The 387th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron has increased joint security operations through host nation cooperation in Kuwait, where a large-scale, temporary cargo facility is under construction. Full Storyread more

Unbelievable Images From Nightmare Southwest Flight Shock The Web Here’s a little insight into my life: Until the time that my mother passed away when I was 12 years old, our family would never fly. Anywhere. The reason being that my mother had been a part of an horrific incident on a flight earlier in her life, in which the plane she was traveling on dropped several thousand feet in a matter of seconds. The drop was so sudden that many passengers were moving about the cabin at the time, and were subsequently tossed about,…read more

Gorsuch Sides With The Swamp! POTUS Absolutely Flabbergasted! There is no denying that Donald Trump’s presidency has been a bit chaotic at times. That’s a fair assessment that may even be understating things a bit. If we’re being frank, the man has been under attack from all angles from the moment he announced his political intentions several years ago. During the arduous 2016 election, Trump was even forced to mow throw over a dozen other republicans candidates before finally smashing Hillary Clinton in the general election. And that’s even all of them.Trump was victorious, however, with…read more

National Guard, Reserve Troops Participate in Disaster Response Exercises More than 400 South Carolina Army National Guard soldiers are participating in the U.S. Northern Command-hosted Guardian Response exercise. Full Storyread more

Video || Stormy Daniels Releases Sketch of Man She Says Threatened Her Pornstar Stormy Daniels today released a sketch of the man she claimed threatened to harm her if she didn’t back off claims that she and Donald Trump had had a one-night stand. The sketch is of a man she supposedly saw seven years ago. She released it on The View. I suppose if you are […] Full Storyread more

Dems Finally Mad, But Starbucks Has Been Attacking Conservatives for… Liberals are mounting a growing boycott of left-wing coffee company Starbucks over what the left claims is evidence of the company’s endemic “racism” in an incident seen at a Philly location. With the left acting all furious at what was until now their favorite company, the incident offers the right a bit of schadenfreude because Starbucks has been attacking conservatives for years. The latest incident of political trouble for the nation’s largest coffee house chain occurred in Philadelphia when two black men were arrested after…read more

Daily Read: Curing the Inequality of Privacy Protections Whose privacy counts? Whose privacy should count? While these questions could be asked across many doctrines, one intersection occurs in the origins of privacy, including the tort remedies for its invasion. In his article Privacy's Double Standards, available on ssrn... Full Storyread more

Daily Read: Curing the Inequality of Privacy Protections Whose privacy counts? Whose privacy should count? While these questions could be asked across many doctrines, one intersection occurs in the origins of privacy, including the tort remedies for its invasion. In his article Privacy's Double Standards, available on ssrn... Full Storyread more

SCOTUS Finds INA Deportation Provision for "Crime of Violence" Unconstitutionally Vague Professor Ruthann Robson, City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law In its opinion in Sessions v. Dimaya, the United States Supreme Court held that a portion of the definition of "crime of violence" in 18 U.S.C. §1, as... Full Storyread more

U.S. Funds Entities Promoting Soros’ Radical Globalist Agenda in Guatemala The U.S. government is using taxpayer dollars to support leftwing billionaire George Soros’ radical globalist agenda in Guatemala, a Judicial Watch investigation has found. A special investigative report published this week by Judicial Watch exposes in detail the connection between U.S.-funded entities and Soros’ Open Society Foundations (OSF) to further the Hungarian philanthropist’s efforts in the impoverished central American nation. The goal is to advance a radical globalist agenda through “lawfare” and political subversion, the report shows. Much like in the United States, OSF programs…read more

Trump Seeking Arab Force to Stabilize Syria This is exactly the kind of thing President Trump ran on and is a perfect rebuttal to those who charge he possesses no ideology and, with respect to Syria, no plan. Trump wants not to withdraw America completely from the world, as the caricatures in the press would have it, but to back off and […] Full Storyread more

Nobody Shows at DC Bookstore to Buy Comey’s Book Kramerbooks, located in Washington’s trendy Dupont Circle district, is the place Washingtonians go to hang out, browse books, and grab something to eat at the attached cafe. It’s much smaller than a Barnes and Noble and has survived Amazon because it is cozy and inviting, offering the feeling that you are immersed within a warm […] Full Storyread more

The IG Report Proves that Andrew McCabe is a Criminal – So When is He Going to Prison? The initial Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report on former FBI assistant director Andrew McCabe is shocking. So shocking in fact, that when it was first leaked to the higher echelons of our government, it forced current FBI Director Christopher Wray to immediately relieve McCabe of duty and it eventually led to McCabe’s firing without his government golden parachute. It has many in the GOP saying “told ya’ so,” to the mainstream media: Republicans hailed the…read more

It was 228 years ago today: Benjamin Franklin died in Philadelphia Today marks the 228th anniversary of Benjamin Franklin’s death, which drew many different responses from the citizens of Philadelphia (who mourned in droves) and the U.S. Senate (which refused to mourn Franklin). Franklin had been ill for some time, and his last major public appearance was at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. He knew his time was short in April 1790 and worked to make sure that the proper obituary was written in advance. The Pennsylvania Gazette announced his passing. Another contemporary newspaper, the…read more

Robert Fisk’s Douma Report Rips Away Excuses for Air Strike on Syria Jonathan CookIndependent Middle East Correspondent Robert Fisk in one of the miles of tunnels hacked beneath Douma by prisoners of Syrian rebels. (Photo: Yara Ismail/The Independent) Full Storyread more

Video || Stormy Daniels Storms Into Court; Sean Hannity got Advice from Cohen Here is Stormy Daniels arriving at a court hearing in New York City concerning the case against President Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen. A little dramatic. Her bodyguards must cost a pretty penny, because they’re quite effective. I don’t know, maybe these photographers thought she was going to take off her clothes. Anyway, also at today’s […] Full Storyread more

Comey Lectures Americans on “Duty” to Vote Trump Out of Office Our “betters” in government know better, and we should never have elected a morally repugnant rube who might challenge them. That was one of the messages we received Sunday night from former FBI boss James Comey, who took it upon himself during an interview with ABC News to challenge the moral compass of the American […] Full Storyread more

Mattis Talked Trump Out of More “Robust” Response to Assad Like bombing Assad directly on his head, I guess. Why is this guy called “mad dog”? He seems very restrained. Anyway, I think Secretary of Defense Mattis’s advice was sound. Our goal is to prevent Syrian President Assad from using chemical weapons, not to defeat him. If Barack Obama had made up his “brilliant” mind […] Full Storyread more

Michael Cohen Got US Weekly to Drop Story About Donald Trump Jr. Affair The man gets things done, you gotta say. From the Wall Street Journal: Separately, Mr. Cohen succeeded around 2013 in killing a story Us Weekly was preparing about an alleged affair between Donald Trump Jr., who had been a judge a year earlier on the television show, “Celebrity Apprentice,” and one of the contestants, Aubrey […] Full Storyread more

DOJ Accuses McCabe of Lying, Releasing Sensitive Information From the Washington Post: The Justice Department Inspector General alleges in a damaging report made public Friday that former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe inappropriately authorized the disclosure of sensitive information to a reporter and then misled investigators and former FBI Director James B. Comey about it on several occasions. The report is remarkable for […] Full Storyread more

The Only News in the Comey Book is About Loretta Lynch It’s incredible to watch the mainstream media hype former FBI Director James Comey’s book even though there is absolutely nothing substantively new in it about President Trump. The media all seem to have either gotten it leaked to them or paid some lowly bookstore employees to give it to them ahead of its release Tuesday. […] Full Storyread more

Trump: Comey is a “Weak” “Liar” and “Slime Ball” Who Should Be Prosecuted But Mr. Trump, tell me how you feel. Oh, I’m sorry, our session is over now, see you next week. James Comey is a proven LEAKER & LIAR. Virtually everyone in Washington thought he should be fired for the terrible job he did-until he was, in fact, fired. He leaked CLASSIFIED information, for which he […] Full Storyread more

Trump Schedule || Friday, April 13, 2018 11:15 am || Receives his intelligence briefing All times Eastern Live stream of White House briefing at 2:30 pm ******* Get my biography of Steve Bannon, “Bannon, Always the Rebel,” based on wide-ranging research and ten hours of exclusive interviews with Bannon himself. Find out who Bannon is and what his conservative populist-nationalist ideology is all about. […] Full Storyread more

Trump Considers Rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership From the Washington Post: President Trump ordered top administration officials Thursday to look at rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the sprawling trade pact he rejected three days after taking office. The move would mark a stunning reversal for Trump, who sharply criticized the pact as a “disaster” and made opposition to global trade deals a centerpiece […] Full Storyread more

RNC Prepares Comey Takedown The great James Comey book tour begins Sunday night with an appearance on ABC News. The RNC is ready with a “Lyin’ Comey” campaign, complete with its own website. What about Lyin’ Ted? Isn’t he going to be jealous? Here’s a report by CNN which, interestingly enough, the RNC thought well enough of to put […] Full Storyread more

Alabama the Best State for Gunmakers; Rhode Island the Worst From a piece I have running on the Fox News website: Red Alabama is the best state for the firearms industry when it comes to factors such as jobs and gun culture, while blue Rhode Island is the worst, according to the jobs website Zippia. The rankings reflect the sharp regional and political divide in […] Full Storyread more

Comey: Kelly Called Trump “Dishonorable” for Firing Me From the Daily Beast: Within minutes of his firing in May, former FBI director James Comey received a call from John Kelly, then the head of the Department of Homeland Security and now the White House chief of staff. According to Comey’s account, which is set to appear in his highly-anticipated forthcoming memoir, Kelly was […] Full Storyread more

Justice Breyer on the First Amendment Our president and CEO, Jeffrey Rosen sits down with Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute in Boston. They discuss the First Amendment, hate speech, the Citizens United decision, and other free speech cases.Stephen G. Breyer is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Jeffrey Rosen is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Constitution Center, the only institution in America chartered by Congress “to disseminate information about the United States Constitution on a nonpartisan basis.” Questions or comments?…read more

President Trump and the Federal Judiciary When President Donald Trump took office last year, there were over 100 federal court vacancies, roughly twice as many as when President Barack Obama faced the same situation in 2009. Since then, President Trump has been nominating judges and having nominees confirmed at “record speed,” leading many senators from both sides of the aisle—from Senator Ted Cruz to Senator Chris Coons—to assert that the most long-lasting and significant legacy to the Trump administration “will be the men and women appointed and confirmed to the federal bench.” This topic and…read more

Hamilton: The Constitutional clashes that shaped a nation This week, the National Constitution Center celebrates the March 2018 opening of its new exhibit, Hamilton: The Constitutional Clashes That Shaped a Nation. This compelling new exhibit highlights the competing ideas of Alexander Hamilton and his legendary rivals, including Madison, Jefferson, Adams, and Burr, and the personalities and constitutional debates that shaped America. The exhibit also provides an intimate look into Hamilton’s enduring role in the constitutional and political arguments that continue to create sparks to this day.Joining us to discuss the debut of this fascinating new…read more

The End of The World? Again? For The Second Time This Week? YUP. I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky, in so much as this entire universe was put together in such a way that we’d hit that sweet spot; that perfect distance from the sun that makes this whole thing click. It’s a comforting thought that defies physics and faith equally, and magnificently. But, we also mustn’t forget that we are just a lucky rock hurtling through the space at thousands of miles per hour. There is no telling how many pieces of space trash we…read more

The End of The World? Again? For The Second Time This Week? YUP. I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky, in so much as this entire universe was put together in such a way that we’d hit that sweet spot; that perfect distance from the sun that makes this whole thing click. It’s a comforting thought that defies physics and faith equally, and magnificently. But, we also mustn’t forget that we are just a lucky rock hurtling through the space at thousands of miles per hour. There is no telling how many pieces of space trash we…read more

Starbucks Boycott Coming After Employee’s Racism Caught on Tape Starbucks has had an interesting few years in the American market, after repeated political controversies have haunted the coffee franchise. Most notoriously, Starbucks was seen to have had capitulated to early social justice warriors by omitting Christian-specific holiday greetings such as “Merry Christmas” from their decorative cups. Christmas trees were gone too,and red and green’s adjacencies were adjusted as well. This was certainly a silly fight for Starbucks to even engage in, but they did. And they lost, rather magnificently, to a bunch of angry-for-the-sake-of-anger millennials.…read more

California Openly Defies Presidential Decree, America Reacts In their quest to divide our nation in two, the liberals have seemingly staked out California as a stronghold for themselves. Well, at least the beachfront. There has been a growing movement within California to split the state into two, perhaps even three pieces, given the fact that their political divide is very neatly drawn on geographical lines. Californians may get to vote on a plan to split the state into three smaller states this November. Venture capitalist Tim Draper, who previously pushed a proposal that would split California…read more

High School Textbook Reads Like “Resistance” Rag, Parents FURIOUS! The left’s insistence that President Donald Trump is not to be taken seriously is a grave and gruesome reminder of the delusion of the democrats. This “resistance” style of thinking has been inexorably egregious in the age of Trump, simply given the fact that many Americans had extremely strong opinions about the man long before he had even concocted the idea to run for office. Heck, if you wanted some R-rated ammunition for any Trump argument, all you would have to do is watch The Roast of Donald Trump on…read more

Comey Pushes Dossier Propaganda in Primetime Attention-Mongering There are some storylines on the left that seem impossible to rid ourselves of, no matter how ludicrous they have become in the face of current events. One such beltway urban legend comes to us from the 23016 presidential election in which Hillary Clinton, on the precipice of calamity, tossed up a Hail Mary that stunned the world: Donald Trump was a Kremlin agent hellbent on handing America over to the Russians. This silly statement was far better suited for the plot of a failing comic book franchise than for…read more

ISIS’ Annihilation in Syria Hasn’t Stopped Caliphate From Threatening U.S. Just weeks ago, the United States, (and the world in general), received some fairly astonishing news: ISIS had been virtually wiped out in Syria; a country long thought to be the dastardly organization’s only true stronghold. This was a monumental development not only for the thousands upon thousands of victims of radical Islam, but also for U.S. President Donald Trump who had made the annihilation of ISIS one of his top priorities during the arduous 2016 presidential campaign. The world at large was ecstatic. What part…read more

Democrats “LOVE” Unions…But Stop Campaign Workers from Organizing Democrats have always claimed to love unions, all unions, any unions, but, in that typically hypocritical Democrat fashion, when it comes to unionizing their own groups… well, suddenly the idea of organizing employees is not so wonderful. According to NBC News, a new group is trying to organize the lowly volunteers and workers on political campaigns but so-called “progressive” liberals are trying to torpedo the effort before it even gets started. NBC published “Democrats love unions. Just not for their own campaign workers” on April 15 to…read more

Could Trump’s Attorney Prove Corruption and Collusion between FBI/DOJ and Democrats? The Last Refuge is a web-based journalist with a penchant for deep-diving on stories that are generally ignored by the mainstream media. For example, The Last Refuge was the first journalist to strip down the shooting at Doulgas High School, and expose how the shooting was actually a failure of leftwing Broward County School policies. The Last Refuge generally writes at the Conservative Treehouse, but every now and then he gets his thoughts down on Twitter first, revealing what he’s seeing in the news and tying stories together.…read more

One Meteorologist’s On-Air Meltdown Comes Amid Lengthy Winter As much as it pains us to admit it, we, as human beings, are truly fascinated by the idea that others within our species can rationally hit their breaking point while continuing to push forward in whatever menial task was at hand. This sort of behavioral trudging is the stuff of legend. Whether you have a co-worker who is using the anger and vitriol of his divorce to fuel a renewed interest in his career, or when watching a professional athlete lash out against an allegedly rigged…read more

One Meteorologist’s On-Air Meltdown Comes Amid Lengthy Winter As much as it pains us to admit it, we, as human beings, are truly fascinated by the idea that others within our species can rationally hit their breaking point while continuing to push forward in whatever menial task was at hand. This sort of behavioral trudging is the stuff of legend. Whether you have a co-worker who is using the anger and vitriol of his divorce to fuel a renewed interest in his career, or when watching a professional athlete lash out against an allegedly rigged…read more

North Korea’s Newfound Cooperation Takes Wild Turn Before Trump Summit Over the course of the last few years, many Americans had come under the impression that North Korea may be the most prevalent threat to the American homeland. That was no mistake, either; North Korea has long been threatening to “annihilate” the United States with the use of its nuclear arsenal, the scope of which has been a hotly debated subject in recent years. Now, after a number of quite serious and successful tests of the nation’s first intercontinental ballistic missiles, the DPRK is finally…read more

North Korea’s Newfound Cooperation Takes Wild Turn Before Trump Summit Over the course of the last few years, many Americans had come under the impression that North Korea may be the most prevalent threat to the American homeland. That was no mistake, either; North Korea has long been threatening to “annihilate” the United States with the use of its nuclear arsenal, the scope of which has been a hotly debated subject in recent years. Now, after a number of quite serious and successful tests of the nation’s first intercontinental ballistic missiles, the DPRK is finally…read more

Russia’s Response to Trump’s Syria Strike Does Not Bode Well For Peace It has been merely hours since American forces began a bombardment of military sites within Syria, whose President, Bashar al-Assad, is accused of using chemical weapons on the people of the nation. This action, which mimics a similarly heinous incident months ago, has compelled U.S. President Donald Trump to action, ignoring a nasty previous threat from the Russian government over such actions. Russia has previously indicated that any strike on Syria would be considered a “war crime”, and prompt a response from the…read more

Russia’s Response to Trump’s Syria Strike Does Not Bode Well For Peace It has been merely hours since American forces began a bombardment of military sites within Syria, whose President, Bashar al-Assad, is accused of using chemical weapons on the people of the nation. This action, which mimics a similarly heinous incident months ago, has compelled U.S. President Donald Trump to action, ignoring a nasty previous threat from the Russian government over such actions. Russia has previously indicated that any strike on Syria would be considered a “war crime”, and prompt a response from the…read more

Historical Statue in Virginia Defaced with “Racist + Racist” Graffiti The young liberal minds of America, who have been fully raised on a regiment of “progression for the sake of progression” mentalities, are raging now against every injustice in the entirety of history, and doing so in increasingly petulant ways. One of the latest targets of the social justice warrior class have been historical figures who had long been held in high regard despite their shortcomings. The reason for the prevalence of this sort of angst is something called “virtue signaling” in which leftists rank…read more

Historical Statue in Virginia Defaced with “Racist + Racist” Graffiti The young liberal minds of America, who have been fully raised on a regiment of “progression for the sake of progression” mentalities, are raging now against every injustice in the entirety of history, and doing so in increasingly petulant ways. One of the latest targets of the social justice warrior class have been historical figures who had long been held in high regard despite their shortcomings. The reason for the prevalence of this sort of angst is something called “virtue signaling” in which leftists rank…read more

TRUMP BOMBS SYRIA! All Eyes Now on Russian Retaliation The globe has stood in anticipation of a U.S. military strike in Syria for several days after President Trump taunted Russian military forces in the region via Twitter. As evidence began to mount of yet another chemical weapons attack in Syria, reportedly carried out against civilians by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, the United States had little choice but to act. Having set the precedent of punishment following just such an attack in 2017, President Trump would not be made to look weak. Not to mention that fact…read more

TRUMP BOMBS SYRIA! All Eyes Now on Russian Retaliation The globe has stood in anticipation of a U.S. military strike in Syria for several days after President Trump taunted Russian military forces in the region via Twitter. As evidence began to mount of yet another chemical weapons attack in Syria, reportedly carried out against civilians by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, the United States had little choice but to act. Having set the precedent of punishment following just such an attack in 2017, President Trump would not be made to look weak. Not to mention that fact…read more

Liberal Academia Brings Backs Segregated Pool Parties on Campus The liberal ethos in America is riding a dangerous median between all out discrimination against their political enemies, and signaling their virtuous tolerance in all situations. It comes off as extremely hypocritical to those who are paying enough attention, but the left’s control over the mainstream media has helped to shield them from such criticisms. They are simultaneously telling us that we’re all going to be made to be equal, while also segregating the transgender rights issue out from within the LGBTQ infrastructure for the purpose…read more

Liberal Academia Brings Backs Segregated Pool Parties on Campus The liberal ethos in America is riding a dangerous median between all out discrimination against their political enemies, and signaling their virtuous tolerance in all situations. It comes off as extremely hypocritical to those who are paying enough attention, but the left’s control over the mainstream media has helped to shield them from such criticisms. They are simultaneously telling us that we’re all going to be made to be equal, while also segregating the transgender rights issue out from within the LGBTQ infrastructure for the purpose…read more

Witch Hunter Mueller Was Eyeing Trump Lawyer Cohen For MONTHS As American watches helplessly on, Special Counsel Robert Mueller continues to mow down associates of President Donald Trump for a laundry list of bizarre, and rather petty process crimes and infractions. This is a long way from the guns-blazing, blockbuster affair that the left was making Mueller’s investigation out to be. The liberals had very much portrayed the probe as nothing short of a James Bond-style storyline with underpinnings of international espionage, blackmail, a rigged election, and super villains. We popped popcorn and everything. Instead,…read more

DOJ Drops Report on Andrew McCabe’s Firing, and It Is UGLY It has not been an excellent year for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with scandals piling up in all corners of their once-tidy home. Their sheet incompetence has now cost American lives in a precise and direct way, after they were found to have ignored warnings about both Omar Mateen and Nikolas Cruz, a terrorist and a psychopathic spree killer, respectively, who were exposed to the FBI before their rampages. The bureau then proceeded to immediately sit on their hands for days before finally…read more

The “Doomsday Plane” is Airborne Once Again as World War Looms It’s easy to understand why many in America are suffering from adult-onset insomnia and a sudden, cramping concern deep in their gut. The world around us is growing ever more crowded with ideas that don’t mesh well with freedom. We are the bastions of liberty. We’re the nation that invented the idea of liberty protected by government, and we still do it the best. Some around the globe, however, believed that we should slip from this incredible pedestal with the introduction of Donald Trump to…read more

James Comey’s Tome of Gibberish Attacks POTUS in Pettiest of Ways It has been called “Trump Derangement Syndrome”, and with good reason; the left has continually devolved into a petty and pedantic “resistance” of the lowest order. Simply put, these vermin aim to obstruct the will of the President, and, ergo, the will of We The People, by shaming their fellow Americans into servitude. Yes, it is wildly, unnervingly shallow and petulant, and some of the attacks being waged in the direction of the man responsible for keeping Russian nukes off of Main Street, U.S.A.…read more

Trump Ready to Enrage Liberals Again, This Time with Scooter Pardon One of the worst things that backstabbing President George W. Bush did during his eight years in the White House was to turn his back on Lewis “Scooter” Libby during the fake investigation into the outing of a CIA agent. Liberals loved Bush’s perfidy, mind you, but it was really a low from Bush. But now, it looks like President Donald Trump is about to revisit Bush’s mistake and right that wrong by pardoning Libby. According to The Hill newspaper: President Trump is expected…read more

Trashing Populism: Dim-Bulb Academic Vs. Deplorables To say that academic elites don’t like ordinary folks is to state the obvious. To them, Lanford, Illinois—the fictional, archetypal, working-class town, made famous by Roseanne and Dan Conner—is not to be listened to, but tamed. A well-functioning democracy depends on it. Taming Fishtown—Charles Murray’s version of Landford—is the thread that seems to run through a new book, “The People vs. Democracy,” by one Yascha Mounk. You guessed it. Mr. Mounk is not an American from the prairies; he’s a German academic, ensconced at Harvard, and sitting in judgment…read more

Indian Tribe Won’t Let National Guard Into “Most Notorious Area for Drugs Entering the County”—Border Patrol: “They Told Us They Don’t Want White Man on Their Land” An Indian reservation along one of the most perilous sections of the Mexican border won’t allow National Guard troops to enter its land, which is a notorious smuggling corridor determined by the U.S. government to be a “High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA).” Sources inside the U.S. Border Patrol and other law enforcement agencies working along the Arizona-Mexico border tell Judicial Watch that the tribe, Tohono O’odham Nation,…read more

Five Steps to Planning a Useful Chatbot for Your Law Practice Are you thinking about building a chatbot for your Law Firm Website? Download our handy worksheet on Five Steps to Planning a Useful Chatbot for Your Law Practice, a companion piece to our post about chatbots. The post Five Steps to Planning a Useful Chatbot for Your Law Practice appeared first on Lawyerist.com. Full Storyread more

Court Rules Illegal Aliens Can Sue over “Discriminatory Employment Policy” Requiring Green Cards For the second time in a few years, a federal court has ruled that illegal immigrants can sue American employers that refuse to hire them because they require workers to be U.S. citizens or legal residents (green card holders). The latest blow to the rule of law was delivered by an Obama-appointed federal judge in south Florida, who handed a powerful open-borders group a huge victory in a case accusing a major U.S. company of discriminating against an illegal immigrant. Though years…read more

Indian Tribe Won’t Let National Guard Into “Most Notorious Area for Drugs Entering the County”—Border Patrol: “They Told Us They Don’t Want White Man on Their Land” An Indian reservation along one of the most perilous sections of the Mexican border won’t allow National Guard troops to enter its land, which is a notorious smuggling corridor determined by the U.S. government to be a “High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA).” Sources inside the U.S. Border Patrol and other law enforcement agencies working along the Arizona-Mexico border tell Judicial Watch that the tribe, Tohono O’odham Nation,…read more

Court Rules Illegal Aliens Can Sue over “Discriminatory Employment Policy” Requiring Green Cards For the second time in a few years, a federal court has ruled that illegal immigrants can sue American employers that refuse to hire them because they require workers to be U.S. citizens or legal residents (green card holders). The latest blow to the rule of law was delivered by an Obama-appointed federal judge in south Florida, who handed a powerful open-borders group a huge victory in a case accusing a major U.S. company of discriminating against an illegal immigrant. Though years…read more

Saudi Arabia to Remain a Defendant in 9/11 Lawsuit, U.S. Judge Rules Days before Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman toured the U.S. this month, a federal judge handed Saudi Arabia a blow by rejecting the Arab nation’s motion to be eliminated as defendant in a huge 9/11 lawsuit that’s gaining tremendous steam. The media has preferred to focus on the prince’s historic visit—a carefully planned jaunt aimed at mending his country’s image—with Hollywood heavyweights, billionaire philanthropists, President Donald Trump, top government officials and tech giants even though the lawsuit is just as newsworthy. Thousands…read more

Saudi Arabia to Remain a Defendant in 9/11 Lawsuit, U.S. Judge Rules Days before Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman toured the U.S. this month, a federal judge handed Saudi Arabia a blow by rejecting the Arab nation’s motion to be eliminated as defendant in a huge 9/11 lawsuit that’s gaining tremendous steam. The media has preferred to focus on the prince’s historic visit—a carefully planned jaunt aimed at mending his country’s image—with Hollywood heavyweights, billionaire philanthropists, President Donald Trump, top government officials and tech giants even though the lawsuit is just as newsworthy. Thousands…read more

HUD Gives Dicey Obama Plan to Transform Slums into Middle-Class Neighborhoods $5 Mil A controversial Obama program that’s reaped enormous amounts of taxpayer money to transform slums into desirable middle-class neighborhoods just got a $5 million infusion from the Trump administration. Known as Choice Neighborhoods, the costly experiment was the centerpiece of a broader Obama initiative to convert poverty-stricken neighborhoods into sustainable, mixed-income areas with affordable housing, safe streets and good schools. It was launched as a collaboration between the departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Education, Justice, Treasury and Health and Human Services (HHS)…read more

HUD Gives Dicey Obama Plan to Transform Slums into Middle-Class Neighborhoods $5 Mil A controversial Obama program that’s reaped enormous amounts of taxpayer money to transform slums into desirable middle-class neighborhoods just got a $5 million infusion from the Trump administration. Known as Choice Neighborhoods, the costly experiment was the centerpiece of a broader Obama initiative to convert poverty-stricken neighborhoods into sustainable, mixed-income areas with affordable housing, safe streets and good schools. It was launched as a collaboration between the departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Education, Justice, Treasury and Health and Human Services (HHS)…read more

Nearly 200 Busted in $3.7-Million Food-Stamp Fraud Operation More than a year after the Obama administration slammed American taxpayers with a record-high tab to provide an unprecedented number of people with food stamps, the fraud continues full-throttle in the bloated welfare program. Authorities in north Florida arrested nearly 200 people for operating a sophisticated ring in which millions of dollars in food stamps were fraudulently exchanged for cash and drugs. Keep in mind that food stamps—renamed by the Obama administration Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to eliminate stigma—are designed to help nourish the nation’s most…read more

One City’s Collaborative Approach to Putting Data to Work The thriving Canadian municipality of Mississauga is harnessing innovative technology and stakeholder buy-in to become a model for connected communities. Full Storyread more

One City’s Collaborative Approach to Putting Data to Work The thriving Canadian municipality of Mississauga is harnessing innovative technology and stakeholder buy-in to become a model for connected communities. Full Storyread more

5 Ways to Make the Most of Pay for Success New federal legislation provides an opportunity for state and local governments to use the innovative approach to reinvent social services. Full Storyread more

5 Ways to Make the Most of Pay for Success New federal legislation provides an opportunity for state and local governments to use the innovative approach to reinvent social services. Full Storyread more

DoD, DHS Outline National Guard Role in Securing Border National Guard troops are deploying to the southern U.S. border to work in operational support missions for the Department of Homeland Security, officials from the departments of Defense and Homeland Security told reporters in Washington. Full Storyread more

DoD, DHS Outline National Guard Role in Securing Border National Guard troops are deploying to the southern U.S. border to work in operational support missions for the Department of Homeland Security, officials from the departments of Defense and Homeland Security told reporters in Washington. Full Storyread more

Face of Defense: Female Advisor Breaks Through Barriers in Afghanistan Army Master Sgt. Janet Bretado of the California National Guard is one of two female advisors from the 40th Infantry Division serving as part of Train, Advise and Assist Command South in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The command is focused on training and assisting Afghan security forces and supporting counterterrorism operations. Full Storyread more

Pentagon Officials Describe Syria Strikes, Hope Assad Gets Message U.S., British and French service members launched attacks that severely degraded the Syrian chemical arsenal and sent a message to Syrian leader Bashir Assad to stop using chemical weapons against his people. Full Storyread more

Mattis, Dunford Detail Attacks on Syrian Chemical Arsenal U.S., British and French forces launched attacks against the Syrian government’s chemical weapon arsenal in retaliation for the use of such weapons on civilians, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis and Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford said. Full Storyread more

U.S., Allies Strike Syrian Targets in Response to Regime’s Chemical Attacks U.S., French and British forces struck targets in Syria as punishment for Syrian leader Bashar Assad using chemical weapons against his own people. Full Storyread more

Military Leaders Highlight Efforts, Challenges in Recruiting, Retention Senior military personnel officers described to a House panel efforts to recruit and retain the best talent, while outlining challenges the military faces due to the competitive civilian job market. Full Storyread more

U.S. Military Must Develop All-Domain Defenses, Mattis, Dunford Say Nations that want to challenge the United States conventionally will lose, but they may look for asymmetric ways to do so, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis and Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told lawmakers. Full Storyread more

Officials Detail Combat Aviation Priorities at House Hearing Senior Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force leaders outlined priorities for combat aviation during a House Armed Services Committee hearing. Full Storyread more

District Judge Holds Transgender Military Ban Subject to Strict Scrutiny Professor Ruthann Robson, City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law In her opinion and Order in Karnoski v. Trump, United States District Judge Marsha Pechman of the Western District of Washington has reaffirmed her previous preliminary injunction (December... Full Storyread more

District Court Says No Standing to Sue President for Ethics Disclosure Steven D. Schwinn, John Marshall Law School Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly (D.D.C.) ruled yesterday that an attorney appearing pro se lacked standing to sue President Trump for alleged deficiencies in his financial disclosure report that he was required to file as... Full Storyread more

District Court Upholds Massachusetts's Assault Weapons Ban Steven D. Schwinn, John Marshall Law School Judge William G. Young (D. Mass.) last week rejected a Second Amendment challenge to Massachusetts's assault weapon ban. Judge Young held that covered rifles fell outside the Second Amendment and thus enjoyed no... Full Storyread more

More Challenges to Citizenship Question on Census Professor Ruthann Robson, City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law The United States Commerce Department's announcement that the 2020 Decennial Census Questionnaire will include a citizenship question, which the census has not included since 1950, continues to provoke... Full Storyread more

Daily Read: Special Counsel's Opposition to Manafort's Motion to Dismiss The Government's 53 page Memorandum (with an additional 230 pages of exhibits), Response in Opposition to Motion to Dismiss, in United States v. Manafort provides another window into the prosecution of Paul Manafort. In his motion to dismiss, Manafort challenges... Full Storyread more

Check it Out: Times Editorial on MLK, Race and Voting Rights at the Supreme Court Check out this NYT editorial on MLK, race and voting rights at the Supreme Court. Here's what it says on Chief Justice Roberts's majority opinion in Shelby County striking the coverage formula for Section 5 preclearance, because "things have changed... Full Storyread more

District Court Says No Standing to Sue U.S. Government for Actions of Israelis Steven D. Schwinn, John Marshall Law School Judge Randolph D. Moss (D.D.C.) ruled in Siegel v. U.S. Dep't of Treasury that plaintiffs lacked standing to sue the U.S. government for anti-Palestinian actions of Israelis. The court rejected the plaintiffs' theory... Full Storyread more

Second Circuit Says NY Can Use Surplus Highway Toll Revenue for Canals Steven D. Schwinn, John Marshall Law School The Second Circuit ruled that New York's practice of using surplus revenue from highway tolls to fund its canal system did not violate the Dormant Commerce Clause. The ruling means that New York... Full Storyread more

District Court Says Maryland, D.C. Have Standing in Emoluments Case Against Trump Steven D. Schwinn, John Marshall Law School Judge Peter J. Messitte (D. Md.) ruled today that Maryland and D.C. have standing to sue President Trump for violations of the Domestic and Foreign Emoluments Clauses. At the same time, Judge Messitte... Full Storyread more

SCOTUS Hears Oral Arguments in Challenge to Maryland's Partisan Gerrymandering Professor Ruthann Robson, City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law In oral arguments in Benisek v. Lamone, the United States Supreme Court again confronted the the constitutionality of gerrymandering on the basis of political party. Recall that the... Full Storyread more

Constitutional milestone on transgender rights For the first time in any court, a federal judge in Seattle has ruled that transgender people are entitled to the fullest protection of the Constitution against discrimination. U.S. District Judge Marsha J. Pechman issued that ruling Friday in a case involving President Trump’s move to bar almost all transgender individuals from serving in the U.S. military, but the decision would also apply to other kinds of discrimination claims by transgender people. In doing so, the judge refused an Administration request to lift a temporary order she had issued in…read more

King’s indignant message in “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Editor's note: This story first appeared on Constitution Daily on April 16, 2013. Martin Luther King’s faith in the power of exalted language to awaken the nation would seem obvious. On August 28, 1963, citing the “architects of our republic” in his “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington, King invoked the “magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.” Presumably, the act of illuminating the gap between the inalienable rights pledged by those hallowed documents and the shameful alienation suffered by…read more

Tax Day trivia: Why do we have the IRS (and other factoids)? April 15 is usually marked each year as the traditional day people need to file their taxes, so it’s not exactly celebrated as a holiday. But how did April 15 become the big day--and how did we get the IRS in the first place? But before you panic, in the year 2018, the official federal tax day is April 17. Why? The federal tax deadline can't fall on a weekend. Emancipation Day, which celebrates President Lincoln's signing of the Emancipation Act, is a holiday…read more

The forgotten man who almost became President after Lincoln On April 15, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln died from his assassin’s wounds. But if John Wilkes Booth’s plot were entirely successful, a little-known senator may have been thrust into the White House. Booth’s full plot included killing Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William Seward. General Ulysses Grant was another possible target. But only two attacks took place on April 14, 1865, with Seward surviving an assassination attempt and Lincoln suffering from Booth's single gunshot. According to the rules of presidential succession in…read more

10 interesting facts about Abraham Lincoln’s assassination It was 153 years ago when President Abraham Lincoln was shot while watching a play at Ford’s Theater. Lincoln died the next morning, and in the aftermath, some odd facts seemed to pop up. Why wasn’t General Ulysses S. Grant in the theater box with Lincoln, as scheduled? Where was the President’s bodyguard? How many people were targeted in the plot? And how did all the assassins escape, at least temporarily? Many of the questions were eventually answered, but some still linger today. And some people have doubts…read more

The Cohen case and attorney-client privilege The recent raid on the office of Michael Cohen, one of President Trump’s personal lawyers, has raised a number of questions on attorney-client privilege and the circumstances under which the privilege can be overcome. To recap: Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to investigate allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government in the 2016 presidential election. Because Mueller’s mandate is limited to the allegations of collusion or any other matters that arise directly from the investigation, what he may…read more

10 facts about Thomas Jefferson for his birthday Thomas Jefferson is celebrating another birthday today, and we have 10 interesting facts about the versatile Founding Father. He was born on April 13, 1743, in Virginia and died on July 4, 1826 on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson is best known for his role in writing the Declaration of Independence, his foreign service, his two terms as president, and his omnipresent face on the modern nickel. The well-rounded Jefferson was also a Renaissance man who was intellectually curious about…read more

Now, a two-front legal war over teen abortions The Supreme Court and a federal appeals court are now moving simultaneously to sort out a major constitutional controversy over a right to abortion for undocumented teenaged girls being held in federal immigration centers and who are now or will become pregnant. After more than five months of giving some thought – off and on — to that dispute, the Supreme Court is scheduled to take up at a private conference on Friday what its options now are, in the wake of a new maneuver in lower…read more

Podcast: Justice Breyer on the First Amendment Our president and CEO, Jeffrey Rosen sits down with Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute in Boston. They discuss the First Amendment, hate speech, the Citizens United decision, and other free speech cases. Full Storyread more

Looking back at the day FDR died On April 12, 1945, the 32nd president of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, died in Georgia. Harry Truman along with an entire nation was stunned by Roosevelt’s unexpected passing. The President had gone to Warm Springs, Georgia, on doctor’s advice on March 30, 1945, to recover from what was believed to be exhaustion. Around 1:15 p.m., Roosevelt collapsed in a chair as he sat for a portrait painting, and he complained of a terrific headache. Within two hours, he was pronounced dead at the age of 63.…read more

Death By a Thousand Tax Cuts Kaitlin Sopoci-BelknapParticipants hold up signs at a Stop 'Trumpcare' rally May 4, 2017 in front of the Capitol in Washington, D.C., May 4, 2017. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images) Full Storyread more

The Trump Amendment I am currently writing an article about the ongoing effort to revive the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. Last year, Nevada ratified the ERA. Nevada's argument was that although the ratification deadline imposed by Congress for the ERA expired in 1982, Congress can waive that requirement and declare the amendment part of the Constitution if and when 3/4ths of the states ratify. My tentative conclusion is that this argument is correct, though the fact that some states rescinded their ratifications in the 1970s complicates the question of how we will…read more

The Trump Amendment I am currently writing an article about the ongoing effort to revive the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. Last year, Nevada ratified the ERA. Nevada's argument was that although the ratification deadline imposed by Congress for the ERA expired in 1982, Congress can waive that requirement and declare the amendment part of the Constitution if and when 3/4ths of the states ratify. My tentative conclusion is that this argument is correct, though the fact that some states rescinded their ratifications in the 1970s complicates the question of how we will…read more

The real cost of Masterpiece: It’s personal. Paul SmithLots of people, when they hear about the Masterpiece Cakeshop case being considered by the Supreme Court, tend to sympathize with the shop owner who believes he shouldn’t have to sell one of his wedding cakes to a same-sex couple, despite Colorado’s law banning such sexual orientation discrimination. After all, he seems like a sincere person trying to live according to his own religious beliefs. And why can’t the same sex couples of Denver buy their wedding cakes somewhere else?However as a gay person I see fundamental…read more

The real cost of Masterpiece: It’s personal. Paul SmithLots of people, when they hear about the Masterpiece Cakeshop case being considered by the Supreme Court, tend to sympathize with the shop owner who believes he shouldn’t have to sell one of his wedding cakes to a same-sex couple, despite Colorado’s law banning such sexual orientation discrimination. After all, he seems like a sincere person trying to live according to his own religious beliefs. And why can’t the same sex couples of Denver buy their wedding cakes somewhere else?However as a gay person I see fundamental…read more

Intermediary Immunity and Discriminatory Designs Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 is widely credited with helping free expression flourish online. With limited exceptions, internet service providers, social networking sites, and other online intermediaries are protected under Section 230 against state civil and criminal claims for the third-party content they host. This immunity has allowed intermediaries to publish enormous volumes of speech. Yet in so doing, it has arguably shaped the development of the public sphere in problematic ways—subsidizing digital platforms over analog ones, rewarding reliance on user-generated rather than employee-generated content, and…read more

Intermediary Immunity and Discriminatory Designs Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 is widely credited with helping free expression flourish online. With limited exceptions, internet service providers, social networking sites, and other online intermediaries are protected under Section 230 against state civil and criminal claims for the third-party content they host. This immunity has allowed intermediaries to publish enormous volumes of speech. Yet in so doing, it has arguably shaped the development of the public sphere in problematic ways—subsidizing digital platforms over analog ones, rewarding reliance on user-generated rather than employee-generated content, and…read more

Some thoughts after reading two contributions to the Marquette symposium on legal scholarship My kids say that they’re going to have “It’s Complicated” engraved on my gravestone. That’s why I don’t tweet (and often have misgivings about blogging). I suspect that the only way to “promote reasoned debate” on Twitter is to point out some complexities that other Tweeters have overlooked – which probably would come across either as snark or as trolling. My guess is that “Yes but” isn’t likely to get many retweets.Another thought was that lots of legal scholarship consists of throwing…read more

Some thoughts after reading two contributions to the Marquette symposium on legal scholarship My kids say that they’re going to have “It’s Complicated” engraved on my gravestone. That’s why I don’t tweet (and often have misgivings about blogging). I suspect that the only way to “promote reasoned debate” on Twitter is to point out some complexities that other Tweeters have overlooked – which probably would come across either as snark or as trolling. My guess is that “Yes but” isn’t likely to get many retweets.Another thought was that lots of legal scholarship consists of throwing…read more

The Multiple Uses of Justice Scalia Calvin TerBeekShortly after President Clinton’s 1996 re-election, an originalist law professor took to the pages of National Review (NR) to propose that Justice Scalia run for president on the Republican ticket in 2000. “No one else of prominence in America’s public life,” wrote John McGinnis, “makes the case for conservatism better than Scalia.” Scalia was “a matchless expositor of laissez-faire economics, and yet no can doubt that he believes as intensely in social conservatism . . . .” Put differently, Candidate Scalia would be able to uniquely appeal “to…read more

The Multiple Uses of Justice Scalia Calvin TerBeekShortly after President Clinton’s 1996 re-election, an originalist law professor took to the pages of National Review (NR) to propose that Justice Scalia run for president on the Republican ticket in 2000. “No one else of prominence in America’s public life,” wrote John McGinnis, “makes the case for conservatism better than Scalia.” Scalia was “a matchless expositor of laissez-faire economics, and yet no can doubt that he believes as intensely in social conservatism . . . .” Put differently, Candidate Scalia would be able to uniquely appeal “to…read more

Solum on Pedantic Originalism In the spirit of the day, and in homage to the master, I thought I would share a new paper that may be of interest. Deepening his foundational work and refining some of its core claims, Lawrence B. Solum (Georgetown University Law Center) has posted Pedantic Originalism (unpublished monograph) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Pedantic originalism is a theory of constitutional meaning that aims, through meticulous philosophical analysis, to (1) clarify the role of original meaning in constitutional interpretation, (2) ground originalist inquiry in the pragmatics of natural language, and (3) reorient constitutional debate away from contentious…read more

Noah Feldman, THE THREE LIVES OF JAMES MADISON: GENIUS, PARTISAN, PRESIDENT I have just finished reading Harvard Prof. Noah Feldman's remarkable book on James Madison. It deserves a wide readership. It is extremely well-written and full of insights. As the title suggests, it focuses on three facets of Madison's career, his role as one of at the chief designers of the U.S. Constitution (the "genius"); an important originator of the American party system (the "partisan"); and then America's first war-time president. The first part is likely to be least surprising to most con law buffs,…read more

Solum on Pedantic Originalism In the spirit of the day, and in homage to the master, I thought I would share a new paper that may be of interest. Deepening his foundational work and refining some of its core claims, Lawrence B. Solum (Georgetown University Law Center) has posted Pedantic Originalism (unpublished monograph) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Pedantic originalism is a theory of constitutional meaning that aims, through meticulous philosophical analysis, to (1) clarify the role of original meaning in constitutional interpretation, (2) ground originalist inquiry in the pragmatics of natural language, and (3) reorient constitutional debate away from contentious…read more

Noah Feldman, THE THREE LIVES OF JAMES MADISON: GENIUS, PARTISAN, PRESIDENT I have just finished reading Harvard Prof. Noah Feldman's remarkable book on James Madison. It deserves a wide readership. It is extremely well-written and full of insights. As the title suggests, it focuses on three facets of Madison's career, his role as one of at the chief designers of the U.S. Constitution (the "genius"); an important originator of the American party system (the "partisan"); and then America's first war-time president. The first part is likely to be least surprising to most con law buffs,…read more

The Administration is Lying About the Census The Commerce Department has announced that it is adding a question about citizenship to the 2020 Census, for the first time in seventy years. There has been a lot of speculation about possible political motivations for this action. It is difficult to know exactly what motivates government actors whose deliberations are not public. But it is possible to know one thing: the government’s sole stated reason for adding the question—improving enforcement of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA)—is false. It is not the real reason. “Lying” is…read more

The Wrong Section 2 Yesterday the Commerce Department announced that a citizenship question will be included on the next census. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross stated that the addition of this question would generate data that would be helpful "for determining violations of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act," which "protects minority population voting rights." The Commerce Secretary also concluded that the concern that fewer non-citizens will respond to a census that includes a citizenship question were unfounded. Several states are considering a challenge to this proposed change. Presumably, they will argue that the…read more

The Administration is Lying About the Census The Commerce Department has announced that it is adding a question about citizenship to the 2020 Census, for the first time in seventy years. There has been a lot of speculation about possible political motivations for this action. It is difficult to know exactly what motivates government actors whose deliberations are not public. But it is possible to know one thing: the government’s sole stated reason for adding the question—improving enforcement of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA)—is false. It is not the real reason. “Lying” is…read more

The Wrong Section 2 Yesterday the Commerce Department announced that a citizenship question will be included on the next census. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross stated that the addition of this question would generate data that would be helpful "for determining violations of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act," which "protects minority population voting rights." The Commerce Secretary also concluded that the concern that fewer non-citizens will respond to a census that includes a citizenship question were unfounded. Several states are considering a challenge to this proposed change. Presumably, they will argue that the…read more

Mark Zuckerberg Announces that Facebook is an Information Fiduciary Today in response to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced what I have long contended-- that Facebook is an information fiduciary. Indeed, along with Google, it is one of the most important information fiduciaries in our present age.Of course, Zuckerberg didn't actually use the words "information fiduciary." But he did say two things that are effectively equivalent to it.First, he said:We have a responsibility to protect your data, and if we can't then we don't deserve to serve you. I've been working to…read more

Mark Zuckerberg Announces that Facebook is an Information Fiduciary Today in response to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced what I have long contended-- that Facebook is an information fiduciary. Indeed, along with Google, it is one of the most important information fiduciaries in our present age.Of course, Zuckerberg didn't actually use the words "information fiduciary." But he did say two things that are effectively equivalent to it.First, he said:We have a responsibility to protect your data, and if we can't then we don't deserve to serve you. I've been working to…read more

"A First Amendment for All? Free Expression in an Age of Inequality" Readers in the New York area: The Columbia Law Review will be holding a day-long symposium this Friday, March 23, that asks how First Amendment law might be reimagined for a present and future of mounting economic inequality and authoritarian challenges to democratic norms. The panels are organized around works-in-progress by Jack Balkin, Catherine Fisk, Leslie Kendrick, Genevieve Lakier, Jed Purdy, Bertrall Ross, and Mike Seidman. (Fisk’s and Seidman’s drafts are already online; all of the papers will be available in hard copy…read more

Stormy Daniels and Cambridge Analytica Mark Graber has argued that the First Amendment should protect Stormy Daniels' violation of her nondisclosure agreement with Donald Trump. I doubt that this is correct-- for reasons described below, I think her best argument sounds in contract law. But even if Mark is correct, I want to argue in this post that there are very good reasons why the First Amendment generally does not forbid enforcement of contacts that prevent the disclosure of sensitive personal information. Most companies' privacy policies depend on this proposition. These considerations are especially important…read more

Stormy Daniels and New York Times Co. v. Sullivan Stormy Daniels’ effort to talk about her affair with Donald Trump is better protected by the First Amendment than contract law. The Supreme Court in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964) limited the power of states to pass tort laws that chill or suppress speech about the qualities of public officials or candidates for public office. The specific decision in Sullivanwas that the constitutional interest in vigorous debate over the vices and virtues of public officials constitutionally outweighs the interest of those officials in suppressing…read more

We’re Calling It: The 5 Undeniable Signs That We’re In A NEW COLD WAR You heard it here first, folks: The Americans and the Russians are in the middle of a New Cold War, and there won’t be any further argument over that fact. For the better part of the last three years, there has been a constant, unnerving hum of anxiety hanging over the American people when it comes to Russia. No, this doesn’t have anything to do with the liberal propaganda campaign that purports that the President is some sort of Kremlin double…read more

National Conference of Constitutional Law Scholars Inspired by Larry Solum's efforts at live blogging scholarly conferences, I am in Tucson at the inaugural meeting of the National Conference of Constitutional Law Scholars. This is a very good idea put together jointly by Andrew Coan (Arizona), David Schwartz (Wisconsin), and Brad Snyder (Georgetown) and funded by the University of Arizona's Rehnquist Center. The papers I mention are available (I assume) from Andrew. It's a great conference, with an interesting mix of scholars at different stages of their careers. I was just listening to Aziz Huq presenting…read more

DoD Leaders Encourage Women Seeking Information Technology Careers Two senior Defense Department officials shared their paths to success with other women aspiring to succeed in the information technology field during a Women in the Department of Defense Luncheon hosted by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association. Full Storyread more

Trump Official Assaulted by George Soros Operative on Capitol Hill! Americans of a certain generation will remember the riots and the rowdiness of the 1960’s often with a bit of a romanic twist to the tale. Perhaps it is the effect of time on these memories that make them seem so fond. Even the english language suggests it. The words “reminiscent” and “nostalgic” are both beautiful words in their own right, enticing the speaker to choose their own syllabic influence, and impart a bit of nuance to the day. Part of this surely comes from the…read more

Because 'Corporate Media Ignores Rise of Oligarchy,' Sanders Says Rest of Us Must Fill the Void Jake Johnson, staff writerHow often does the corporate media cover skyrocketing inequality, crippling poverty, and the pernicious influence of corporate cash on the American political system? "Almost never," argues Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in an op-ed for the Guardian published on Friday, just days ahead of his planned inequality town hall that will be streamed online Monday. Full Storyread more

Fourth Circuit Says Students Have Standing to Challenge "Disturbing," "Disorderly Conduct" Laws Steven D. Schwinn, John Marshall Law School The Fourth Circuit ruled this week in Kenny v. Wilson that a group of primary and secondary school students had standing to lodge a facial First Amendment challenge against South Carolina's "Disturbing Schools... Full Storyread more

NATO Trends Heading Up, Annual Report Shows NATO has stepped up recrafting deterrence and defense, and the alliance’s annual report for 2017 shows that the trend lines for the alliance are up, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. Full Storyread more

Check it Out: Uzzell on LOC's Release of Madison's Notes, and Why We Should Care (or Not) Check out Lynn Uzzell's take on the Library of Congress's just-released new digital scans of Madison's Notes, Madison's Notes: At Last, a New and Improved Look, at Law and Liberty. Full Storyread more

Mattis Describes Middle East Trip as Successful In Building Unity Defense Secretary James N. Mattis said his recently concluded Middle East trip was successful, adding that collaboration, the spirit of shared understanding and unity were what he took away from his official meetings with heads of state and military and diplomatic leaders. The secretary made his remarks yesterday to reporters traveling with him on his return trip to Washington after visiting Oman, Afghanistan and Bahrain the past week. Full Storyread more

Public school student free speech: A primer Organized protests this week at public secondary and high schools related to the Parkland shooting have raised several constitutional issues about student actions at schools. So how are group protests by students limited under the Constitution? The courts have long said that public school officials can regulate or ban student protests they view as disruptive. But not all protest actions can be considered as disruptive by schools, especially individual efforts that are passive in nature and express “pure speech.” Certainly, student protests and objections at public high schools…read more

Defense Official Discusses Security Cooperation Reform Army Lt. Gen. Charles W. Hooper, the director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, discussed his agency’s role in the new National Security Strategy, and its role in ongoing reform efforts within the security cooperation enterprise during a Center for Strategic and International Studies panel event in the nation's capital. Full Storyread more

20 Times the Media Ignored Trump’s Triumphs While it may seem as though the mainstream media’s recklessly unrelenting ripping of @realDonaldTrump would be, if nothing else, thorough, there seem to be some unsightly holes in the story so far. When it comes to reporting on the successes of President Trump, for instance, we begin to to see the leftist media’s integrity crumble. They simply omit the good news in order to focus more time and resources on the disparagement and delegitimization of The Donald. Given that Trump continues to win, the left has no choice but to simply turn up…read more

Eucom Commander Discusses Counteracting Russian Disinformation Russia is using all aspects of government power to overthrow the existing international rules-based infrastructure and especially trying to subvert NATO, Army Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti, commander of U.S. European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, said during a roundtable with reporters at the Pentagon. Full Storyread more

Sanders to Host Inequality Town Hall Monday Night Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will host a nationally televised town hall focused on inequality in the United States on Monday in partnership with The Guardian, NowThis, The Young Turks and Act.tv.Sanders, along with filmmaker Michael Moore, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, economist Darrick Hamilton and other experts, will discuss poverty in America, the 40-year decline of the middle class, the growing power of corporate interests and how we can build an economy that works for all Americans.The event will be live streamed on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube by Sanders,…read more

Why are Gun Control Activists Always Wrong? Let Me ‘Gunsplain’ I am literally exhausted from explaining that there is no such thing as an “Assault Rifle”. Since the Florida school shooting the usual rabble has been out in force arguing for taking away more of our rights. This time they’ve stepped up their game and enlisted thousands of high school kids as unwitting accomplices to their agenda. The teens are more than happy to march in the streets and miss a day school while feeling self-righteous about it. I have a teenager and he has…read more

ProPublica Retraction, Say Critics, Does Nothing to Nullify Objections to Haspel's Role in CIA Torture Program Julia Conley, staff writerJournalists and civil liberties advocates cautioned against the derailing of the debate over CIA Director nominee Gina Haspel's history of overseeing torture and her fitness to lead the agency, after an error was uncovered in ProPublica's reporting on Haspel. Full Storyread more

George Washington calms down the Newburgh Conspiracy This week marks the anniversary of an important early event in our Republic’s history: a potential military uprising defused by George Washington. On March 15, 1783, Washington gave one of the most important speeches in his military career. On a grassy knoll in Newburgh, New York, the man who would become the nation’s first President spoke to a corps of soldiers who were on the verge of mutiny. They were tired, they were bloodied, and they were far from home. Most importantly, however, they had not been paid.…read more

In America, You Have a Right to Carry a Gun But Not a Right to Healthcare Pat LaMarchePeople need guaranteed access to affordable housing, food, education, healthcare and jobs. But none of that is protected under the U.S. Constitution. Full Storyread more

Explaining the Persistence of "Impure" Legal Theories Jeremy Kessler and David PozenIn a recent post, Professor Barzun attributes to our article Working Themselves Impure the argument that when prescriptive legal theories (such as originalism, textualism, and cost-benefit analysis) persist past the point of “impurification,” they do so “because they serve as tools of professional advancement, enabling their adherents to improve their status within the relevant academic or professional community.” Our explanatory hypothesis for theory persistence is neither as narrow nor as cynical as this formulation suggests. As we discuss in the article, legal theorists and practitioners have a wide…read more

Sanders Joins Progressive Activists for International Call to Build Globally Coordinated People’s Movement for Peace Activists from the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Israel, South Africa, Canada, Korea, New Zealand, Nepal and the Netherlands Come Together to Discuss Diplomatic Solutions to Global Crises______________________________ Full Storyread more

Kelly to Remain as Chief of Staff for Now White House Chief of Staff John Kelly has apparently dodged whatever bullets are flying around the West Wing and will remain in his job. According to the Wall Street Journal: President Donald Trump and White House chief of staff John Kelly have settled on a truce, at least temporarily, as the latest round of staff […] Full Storyread more

Medical Examiner System Personnel Train in Operation Joint Recovery More than 200 active duty and reserve service members and personnel from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System participated in Operation Joint Recovery at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. The Defense Department mortuary affairs exercise involved search and recovery missions in tactical and nontactical environments, operating a mortuary affairs contaminated remains mitigation site, and establishing and operating a mortuary affairs collection point and a theater mortuary evacuation point. Full Storyread more

Despite Media Hate, Trump Continues to Rack Up the Victories The media has not ignored the President during his first 15 months in office. In fact, they have covered President Trump more aggressively than any other President, ever. From Inauguration Day (January 20) through the end of 2017 (December 31), the three evening newscasts aired 3,430 stories that talked about either President Trump or his administration, totaling 99 hours, 3 minutes of airtime – about 34 percent of all evening news. Thus, one out of every three minutes of broadcast evening news coverage was devoted…read more

Koffler: Conservatives Need to Stop Bellyaching About Trump I’ve written a piece for NBC News that goes straight after the conservative #NeverTrumpers who continue to insist that Trump is too impure for them, even as he helps them realize all their dreams. The article also questions those who try to make excuses for Trump and say he’s simply “imperfect.” Actually, he’s less than […] Full Storyread more

Hillary Caught Saying Trump Voters are Racist, Poor, and Stupid This is not shocking is it? I mean, no one is surprised that Hillary Clinton is as tone-deaf, prideful, and idiotic as she’s always been… are we? The only thing that is surprising is that she allowed her mask to drop long enough to be heard being as honest as she was. This past week, the failed Democrat candidate for President was traveling through India when she explained to a crowd of listeners the “real reason” that she lost the election. As she tells it,…read more

Special Operations Forces Exercise in Arctic Conditions More than 1,500 U.S. military personnel from 20-plus units trained in arctic conditions in Alaska as part of the Arctic Edge 2018 exercise. Full Storyread more